Our Thoughts About Traveling to Ethiopia

We have been asked several questions by several people about being in Ethiopia. Of course we are no experts but we are happy to help anyway we can. Here are some questions we have been asked and our thoughts.

1. How much money to exchange?
   I guess that depends on what your agenda is for the week, how many days you are in country, and what the requirements are from your adoption agency or accommodations (hotel, guest home, etc.). We recommend you convert more than you need as it can be difficult to exchange money while you are there and the banks are not open on the weekends. To give you an idea, to hire a driver all day would be around 60 USD. An Ethiopian painting would be around 200 Birr , and an authentic Ethiopian soccer jersey is about 600 Birr. We converted enough money to pay for any shopping, dinners, and for our accommodations (which included any dinners at the guest house, drivers, and laundry service). Remember you can convert it back to USD at the airport if needed.
2. Where do we recommend for people to stay?
   We had the best experience at the Ethiopian Guest Home (EGH) and highly recommend it. You can click here to read all about it and how it got started. We have never stayed at any of the hotels but I hear the Hilton and Sheridan are very nice.
3. How did we get around the city?
   Thankfully the EGH has drivers. We just had to let the receptionist know what time we needed a driver and they arranged it for us.
4. Is it safe to eat out and were we worried about getting sick?
   Yes it is okay to eat out as long as you understand what is okay to eat. For example, I would never get an apple with its skin on as it very well could have been washed with tap water versus bottle water. As long as the food is cooked and isn't something that is cleaned with tap water or grows in the ground like lettuce, you should be fine. It is best to talk to your doctor before you leave and get a prescription for travelers diarrhea.
5. What kind of things did we do while in country?
   If you have read our blog posts recapping our trip (see our January 2010 blog posts), you have a good idea of all the things we did while in Ethiopia. The main reason for our trip was to bring home our daughter Makenna but we did do many things outside of the adoption (Kolfe Orphanage, Korah Leper Colony, shopping, etc.). If possible, we highly recommend getting out of the city and seeing the countryside as Ethiopia is absolutely beautiful. Some things to do while in Addis are visiting the National Museum, shopping, Lion's Zoo, and Traditional dinner/dancing.
6. What to pack?
   I made the mistake of packing way too much our first trip and thinking I could style my hair like I do at home. For our second trip, we packed light and had our laundry done while in Ethiopia (EGH has a laundry service). I kind of felt like it was camping but on a good day as you do have water, electricity, and the possibility of styling the hair (as long as you have the right converters). If you are bringing home a child then be sure to pack what you need but you can buy formula and diapers at any supermarket for a reasonable amount. Personally, I feel it is best to keep the infants on the same formula until you get home so I recommend purchasing it once you arrive in country.
7. Other tips and advice?
   If you are traveling with an infant, I highly recommend bringing a baby bjorn with you or something like it as it will save you while traveling though all the airports. For toddlers bring an umbrella stroller. I would also recommend bringing some snacks along with you especially something with protein (nuts, protein bars, etc.). You can certainly stop at a grocery store while in country but it may be easier to pack a few snacks with you. Last but not least - only drink bottle water!

I hope this helped those reading this post and waiting to travel to Ethiopia for your first time. We love to talk about Ethiopia and help answer any questions so feel free to ask away. Again, we are no experts but are happy to help. If anyone has anything to add, please do so!

Day 7 – Friday: Goodbye Coffee Ceremony

Friday we awoke early to the realization that we were heading home. While we were excited to see Maya, we were not ready to pack up and leave Ethiopia. It didn’t feel as if we were done, we had so much we wanted to accomplish, we had met so many new friends, we fell in love with a city, country and the people that live there.

Of course before we could say goodbye, Theresa had to leave many tears behind. She connected with Rediet in a way that only could be viewed as long-lost sisters. She is a special woman and we hope to stay connected with her for a very long time. Along with Rediet, Naod and Sosina were the guest home receptionists, hosts and nannies during our stay. They provided such a great setting for us during our adoption trip. Our experience would not have been the same without them.

The entire staff at EGH was amazing including the translators and drivers. In the below left photo are Sammy and Aki, our guides during the week. Gecho (below right) was our main driver during the week. A grandfather himself he was so sweet to all the children as well as the families.

Joining Rediet and Sosina to say goodbye were the receptionists from the other guest homes. Below right is our kitchen staff who provided us great food and amazing smoothies all week. We didn’t lose any weight this trip like our last one :)

But alas, it was time to go. The EGH held a goodbye ceremony for us and the Ulrich’s who were on our flight back to the States. All the staff came to visit, laugh and say goodbye.

A group shot of the three families that stayed in our guest home. One family is located so close to us, in fact they vacation every summer just minutes from our lake place – hopefully we will be able to stay connected. The other family is from the Faroe Islands, which are a part of Denmark. Such a neat couple experiencing the joy of parenthood for the first time. They provided such interesting stories and heritage that added a unique wrinkle and culture to our visit.

Good-bye Ethiopia.

Day 6 - Thursday

Today is a big day for us as today is Makenna’s U.S. Embassy visit where she will obtain her visa that will allow her to return with us tomorrow to the states. We purposely didn’t plan anything for this day to ensure that we wouldn’t miss our transport to the embassy.

It was beautiful out so we decided to take a walk down to the drop-in center that is partially supported by the guest home were are staying in. This drop in center is run by Compassion Family International and Peter Abera. It it located about two blocks from the guest home. The center is a drop-in for children in the local Kebele (think borough) whose families cannot afford traditional schooling. At the drop-in they are provided education and food.

We were able to watch part of the learning from the day – so precious to see the little boy leading the class learning the Amharic alphabet.

Compassion Family International Drop-In Center from David Held on Vimeo.

The children also took special interest in Theresa’s hair – they all wanted to feel it and run their hands through it. It was really cute and a nice change from us running our hands through their beautiful black curls :)

HopeChest

Located in the same building as the drop-in center is the national headquarters for Children’s HopeChest, of which Peter is also the director. It was great to see where their offices were and have the opportunity to meet a discipler as well as the sponsorship coordinator.

Embassy

After an early lunch we were picked up and off to the embassy. No photos or video unfortunately as the embassy does not allow any of that. I must admit we were ready for a long afternoon as our embassy visit for Maya was well over two hours during our last trip. We were pleasantly suprised that from the moment we parked the car, two security checkpoints, the waiting room, the embassy interview and back out again took less than 30 minutes! Seriously, we were the very first family called after the lunch hour and it was such a blessing.

After the embassy we had some time so we decided to continue our hunt for children’s sized jersey's of the Ethiopian National soccer team. We tried two more stores and decided that after seven (7) attempts that it was time to give up – there are no jerseys for children :(

10 Best Memories from Ethiopia according to Theresa

1. Meeting Makenna
   
2. Spending the week with 2 fantastic families
   
3. Staying at the Ethiopia Guest House (EGH)
   
4. The AWESOME staff at the EGH
   
5. Meeting the animated young men at Kolfe Boys Orphanage
   
6. Opening my eyes to the community of Korah Leper Colony
   
7. Shopping :)
   
8. Spending time with the children at Compassion Family International
   
9. The good-bye coffee ceremony by the staff at EGH
   
10. Not getting sick and being able to eat!
    

Day 4 - Tuesday

OK, OK – time for some photos of Makenna Bethlehem!

Tuesday Night

On Tuesday night we walked down to the end of the road with another family staying with us at the Ethiopia Guest Home. They are a family adopting a six-year old boy and they are from Montana. They have been great having here with us as we have much in common.

The cafe was really nice and they had draft beer which Dave and Jen enjoyed. Of course, I opted for the Macchiato. I think it may have been the best one yet!

Day 2 - Sunday

We spent about an hour on Sunday afternoon, along with another family staying with us at the guest home from Montana, doing a bit of shopping. As we got out of the van at the row of shops we were surrounded by the street boys immediately. They were really cute and one of them took a particular interest in my shoes. He tried every angle possible over the hour to get me to give him my shoes. I give him credit as he was creative and I struggled with whether to give in and give him some birr (money) or not. That is the toughest thing to do, as you want to help, but balance it with the fact that you don’t want to enable begging as it only encourages more. I found out later that another boy had taken to the other man in our group and also worked the shoe story so it seemed it was part of their story.

Staying at the guest home with us for the weekend was a volunteer group from the States, Visiting Orphans. They were just finishing up a mission trip to Uganda and Addis Ababa and it was really fun to meet and visit with them. On Sunday before they left for the airport to head back home, the guest home threw them a coffee ceremony and said their goodbyes.

The staff of the guest home roasted coffee and even played music. It was a really fun evening.